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Tax cuts and all-time-low interest rates likely drove India's growth to 6.3% in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, economists said. That came after a 6.1% expansion in the second quarter. "India's growth is being heavily driven by government stimulus," said Nikhilesh Bhattacharyya, an economist at Moody's Economy.com. "It's way too soon to turn away from accommodative monetary and fiscal policies."

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Statistics Canada is expected to report that the nation's recession ended in the third quarter. The GDP dropped an annualized 3.4% in the second quarter. Economists expect data to show that Canada grew an annualized 1% last quarter.

The first exchange-traded fund focusing on companies that are the target of mergers and acquisitions was launched by IndexIQ. The IQ ARB Merger Arbitrage ETF is linked to the IQ ARB Merger Arbitrage Index. Year-to-date returns from the index are about 19.5%. The ETF's strategy is identical to that of an M&A hedge fund. The expense ratio is 0.75%. The fund trades on the NYSE Arca platform.

If economists are correct, the U.S. will end this week with more bad news about unemployment. Analysts expect the Labor Department's report to show that 100,000 jobs disappeared in November. "The recent economic data have been consistent with our view that the economy is recovering, but it is at a distinctly subpar pace," Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, wrote to clients. "Growth looks too sluggish to lower the 10% unemployment to a meaningful degree any time soon."

Eurozone finance leaders meeting with China's top officials said an orderly, slow increase in the value of the yuan would benefit China and the world's economy. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, is the latest to call for a rise in the value of the yuan against other major currencies. Juncker voiced his opinion after a day of talks with senior Chinese officials, including Premier Wen Jiabao. Because of China's rapid economic growth, it is hard to justify the yuan's recent depreciation, Juncker said.

Measures under consideration by Congress that would cut back the power of the Federal Reserve "would seriously impair the prospects for economic and financial stability in the U.S.," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke wrote in The Washington Post. "A number of the legislative proposals being circulated would significantly reduce the capacity of the Federal Reserve to perform its core functions," he wrote. "In the current environment with so much borrowing by the government, the political pressure on the Fed is out there," said James Glassman, senior economist at JPMorgan Chase. "I don't think you can totally dismiss it."